Part 1: Overview of the Threat * Part 2: High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) and High Power Microwave (HPM) Devices: Threat Assessments * Part 3: Electromagnetic Pulse Threats in 2010 * Part 4: Interim Report of the Defense Science Board (DSB) Task Force on the Survivability of Systems and Assets to Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) and other Nuclear Weapon Effects (NWE) * Part 5: Electronic Systems Failures and Anomalies Attributed to Electromagnetic Interference * Part 6: Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack / Volume 1: Executive Report * Part 7: Report Of The Commission To Assess The Threat To The United States From Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack - Critical National Infrastructures * Part 8: Threat Posed By Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) To U.S. Military Systems And Civil Infrastructure - Hearings Before the U.S. House Of Representatives, Committee On National Security * Part 9: Space Weather * Part 10: The Sun, the Earth, and Near-Earth Space: A Guide * Part 11: Congressional Hearings about Electric Grid Threat.

The nation's power grid is vulnerable to the effects of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), a sudden burst of electromagnetic radiation resulting from a natural or man-made event. EMP events occur with little or no warning and can have catastrophic effects, including causing outages to major portions of the U.S. power grid possibly lasting for months or longer. Naturally occurring EMPs are produced as part of the normal cyclical activity of the sun while man-made EMPs, including Intentional Electromagnetic Interference (IEMI) devices and High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP), are produced by devices designed specifically to disrupt or destroy electronic equipment or by the detonation of a nuclear device high above the earth's atmosphere. EMP threats have the potential to cause wide scale long-term losses with economic costs to the United States that vary with the magnitude of the event. The cost of damage from the most extreme solar event has been estimated at $1 to $2 trillion with a recovery time of four to ten years, while the average yearly cost of installing equipment to mitigate an EMP event is estimated at less than 20 cents per year for the average residential customer.

HEMP is produced by a nuclear weapon detonated above the atmosphere. No blast, shock or radiation is felt at the Earth's surface; however, electromagnetic fields do reach the surface. IEMI is a term that is applied to the non-explosive, non-nuclear intentional generation of intense electromagnetic fields that are used to introduce signals into electronic equipment for the specific purpose of disrupting, confusing or damaging these electronics. IEMI devices are malicious in nature and are used for terrorist or criminal purposes. Many types of IEMI are commercially available and can be as compact as a briefcase in size. In many ways, the IEMI threat is similar to that of the early-time threat of high-altitude EMP and can be addressed in a similar fashion.